


Calm Pools

by White_Lynx



Series: Strange Depths [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cryptids, Ends Up Meeting A Merman, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Heith - Freeform, Heith needs more love you guys, Human Hunk (Voltron), Hunk Goes On Vacation, I'm just going to leave this here, MerMay 2019, Platonic Sheith, Possibly Modern With Magic, Worldbuilding, merman Keith, super late but i don't care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 14:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19021834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Lynx/pseuds/White_Lynx
Summary: Hunk is a big city, small-time baker who's in desperate need of some time off. So when his friend and employee generously offers a beach house he's somehow able to afford to stay in, Hunk can't bring himself to refuse.Would've been nice if he'd said his adopted, merman brother may come by for a visit.





	Calm Pools

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, WL here! I'm super late to the Mermay game and while pretty unofficial, I'm just gonna leave this here. Yes, I know it's overrun with italics but some of us don't want to waste too much time trying to underline the various text. I'm not a coder, I'm lazy after struggling over how to get this perfect for two weeks so bear with me.
> 
> I love the rarepair Heith fics that are available here on AO3 but there are times where I wish there were more. I am thinking of expanding on this, but not right away. Kudos and comments are love!
> 
> Thanks and enjoy.

“Iii” = speech

“ _Iii_ ” = phone speech

 _Iii_ = thought

He sighed tiredly, grateful for the soft plush of the chair cushion when all but falling into the wooden construct’s curved shape, the tie-on cushions the only barrier between his sweaty back and the sturdy slats making up the main support. Hunk had only just gotten to the beach house and he was exhausted. A mixed blessing was that he’d done so alone, not sure how to feel about Shiro’s odd look of amusement when Hunk finally agreed to use the remote property for a short vacation away from the shop. The older man had insisted after being one of his first employees to help get his bakery off the ground two years ago, somehow able to match the giddy energy they shared when making all kinds of confections.

They said that if you found a job you loved, you wouldn’t work a single day in your life. Or that was probably the spirit of the statement, because Hunk had begun to wonder if putting himself into a drug-induced coma would rid him of the weariness that’d been dragging on his mind and body. Taking some time off for himself was the point of taking Shiro’s key and having the whole week to get his head clear. Maybe two since the pale-haired former pilot had said he could hold the fort for a whole month if he had to.

The house was pretty much how his friend had said it would be: on the coast, yards away from the water and above some of the stiff grass lining the invisible divide between land and sea, a more than average landscape. Exactly how Shiro came to have the property when most were very expensive or some kind of timeshare he had no idea. All he cared about was the place wasn’t rundown and indeed had all the amenities of modern life. There was even fresh food in the kitchen, probably brought there just days before he even showed up. In the back of his mind, he knew Shiro hadn’t done it. The man had shown up to work every day, same as him at roughly the same time, hard to do when the house was three hours away. He had to wonder who Shiro knew locally but dismissed that.

If they came around, Hunk would greet them with his thanks for going out of their way for their friend’s tired boss. He didn’t plan on doing any baking while in the house, but he’d certainly make something quick and delicious if he found out what they liked. Going into town for whatever was missing for such a project was no issue, since he definitely had the money to buy whatever he needed himself. Even on vacation, Hunk liked to be pretty self-reliant.

To his completely lacking surprise, he spent the first two days in the house alone. It was cozy, well built and he could almost swear he spent most of the first day napping just to pass out right after making himself dinner. Such a thing proved how truly tired he’d become and made him feel old, especially he’d come to rest on his folded arms in front of his laptop which had been streaming his favorite baking show. Apparently trying to binge-watch while exhausted was not a good idea. Only common sense saw him shut the device off and head to bed, where he was able to sleep in well past his usual breakfast hour. If he was honest with himself, Hunk couldn’t truly recall a different time in his life when he’d done that.

After lunch on the third day, he decided to walk the beach. The sky was overcast but the air was warm, fairly nice conditions to see how far he could go before reaching some rocks bigger than the ones over fifty yards away. Maybe going there would give him a better glimpse of his new surroundings, so that there were no surprises. A quiet breeze ruffled his hair and pulled at his shirt at times, but he didn’t mind. The sand was even smooth and clean, a rogue chunk of wood or bits of grass marring the faint yellow granules in being flat due to wind and the lazy flow of the waves. He’d thought against not wearing any sandals, mostly to avoid stepping on something hidden in the dry surface he wouldn’t find until it was stabbing him like a traitor’s dagger from the shadows.

He’d gotten to about halfway to the rocks, sitting low compared to the water and dark as pieces of night, the one thing Hunk didn’t expect to notice was someone seated upon one near the tip of the formation. There was no way it was a strange looking gull, even if the person looked deathly pale with a shock of black on their head. It had to be a male, since Hunk couldn’t see a shirt but upon trying to step closer to know for sure, had no shorts on either. It seemed unlikely that a random swimmer had lost their clothes, in a place that wasn’t a public swimming area. And last he’d been told, the house and its land was nowhere near a nudist resort. Such places where usually in Florida, where the air was far warmer and most could stand to be without clothes for hours at a time.

The stranger, upon shifting their head, stiffened visibly at finally noticing he was being observed. Rather than standing up to scurry for any clothes stashed out of view or even waving as would’ve been neighborly, the baker was left in a shock when the slender form just slid off the rock into the water instead. A baffling move, when one clearly had legs and therefore feet to traverse the possibly worn-down rocks back to the shore. Hunk’s eyes tried to find the stranger in the water, concern blooming like a patch of weeds in his chest at failing to see them anywhere. Until they bobbed up again further out into the water, dark hair now slick from the moisture, seeming to have no regard for their safety if they were out so far.

Any call for them to come back died low in his throat when the head turned to the side and down, allowing for the baker to notice several things: they were diving down and the muted sunlight and dark waves weren’t enough to hide the glimpse of shimmering that followed, then vanished. Even from so far away and almost outside of his range of vision, Hunk knew enough about basic animal anatomy to know what certain kinds of fins looked like. And these looked to be nothing like a shark, as any natural species was unlikely to come so close and were too small to be a real danger. No, these fins looked thin and almost delicate.

Glancing between the rock formation and part of the small bay for any clue on where the figure and their curious new shape had gone, he saw nothing. Knowing what the person might actually be, he wasn’t going to see them again, if ever. They’d probably started to dive after looking back to see if he was going to move or not, retreating to a place Hunk couldn’t go.

“Son of a bitch.” Hunk muttered to the salty air, not sure if he was really irritated or not at this point. He’d expected a quiet vacation alone, the beach and grassy land meant to be devoid of other people unless they were locals with nothing better to do.

He snorted and began to walk back toward the house. That’s where he’d left his cell, and he needed to berate his friend for the somewhat unwanted shock of his life. No point in sticking around out of unfounded horror at a stranger making obvious efforts to drown themselves. He’d wanted some quiet time so to catch his breath after two years of breath-stealing work. Not to spend the next week and a half with a merman.

As he expected, his glare was ineffective on the wall at hearing Shiro's low cackling through the phone speaker. His tone wasn’t much better in trying to growl at his friend for more or less tricking him, rubbing at his eyes when that only made his employee laugh harder. It was bad enough the man had no fear at all of being fired or anything, both of them knowing that Hunk was sometimes too nice for his own good. It was a blessing as much as a curse at times, including the fool idea to take his college friend Lance in to run the counter. No one could sell bagels and muffins like that man could, and that was when he wasn’t shamelessly casting star-filled eyes to his girlfriend Allura when she came in for coffee every morning.

 _I really need to reevaluate my hiring process_ , he mentally grumbled, wondering when or if Shiro was going to stop laughing at him and starting offering a damn explanation.

“ _Sorry, man. I didn’t think he’d even be out there this time of year._ ”

Hunk’s glare probably would’ve had an acidic effect if such a thing were possible, much as he wished to be in the same room as his friend to really give him what for. “How the hell does not telling me about the cryptid that somehow doesn’t follow any seasonal pattern lead to you laughing like someone’s told a fart joke?”

“ _Because it doesn’t surprise me?_ ” Shiro said once his chuckles died down, helpful as always. “ _He follows his own flow in the tide, if you get my meaning_.”

“Dude. Pardon my French, but what the fuck is wrong with you?!” the stocky baker had to snarl at his friend. Honestly, he wasn’t in the mood for this kind of thing. “For all you know, he’d tear me to pieces two seconds after spotting me on the beach!”

“ _Nah, his territory’s more to the south and even then, he just hangs out there. It’s fine, you’re fine and unless you come after him, he’s not gonna do anything. Promise. _”__

____

“Then how, pray tell, do you know about him and why you’re not dead?”

____

Even if they were maybe fifty miles away, he could just see Shiro smiling far too easily at what he was hearing. “ _I won him over with my kind personality. You can too, if he ever dares get close enough. I’m guessing the first thing he did was run for the water?_ ”

____

“Like I was chasing him with a pitchfork.” he said, as that’d been pretty much what had happened, even if Hunk hadn’t intended on chasing the merman at all. The last thing he’d been thinking about was going for a swim, and he couldn’t go that fast anyway. “Does he think all humans are ignorant and murderous or something?”

____

“ _No, he knows the modern age doesn’t allow that kind of crap. He’s just shy._ ”

____

“He’s not shy about jumping off rocks and scaring people half to death.” Hunk grumbled, hearing the distinct sound of a scoff in his ear.

____

“ _Sounds like him. Give it time. Either he’ll come to you on his own or you’ll never see him for the rest of the month. I saw him a few times before not seeing him for almost a year. Just be cool and you might get along better than you think._ ”

____

“Gee, thanks for telling me I’d be spending my _vacation_ with a cryptid for a neighbor.”

____

Shiro’s answering chortle made Hunk’s anger flare up some more, hating the way his friend and employee was shameless with his humor. “ _It’s not all bad! You’ll get your alone time and he probably won’t show up again until you’re about to leave._ ” While this was information he wish had been offered before driving out, Hunk could only wait as the man kept going. “ _That house is the only property for miles and he knows no one around there wants to hurt him. Ignore him if you have to, and it’ll be like he was never there._ ”

____

“But, I mean, who is he?” he insisted, not about to just sit there and take Shiro’s word for it. Doing so already had proven a poor idea as it was. “I thought merpeople lived in schools or something.”

____

“ _His species is known for having a loner or two. Don’t try to chase him off and you’ll be fine. I promise._ ”

____

“I’m still going to dock your pay for this shit, Shirogane.”

____

“ _Uh-oh. Hunk used a swear!_ ” his employee cackled far too gleefully into the phone, not seeming to hear his boss growl in irritation right back. Of course Shiro would find his anger amusing, once no longer in person to bear the full brunt of it. “ _You’re thinking about this too much, man. Just act normal and it’ll be okay._ ”

____

“Easy for you to say.” Hunk grumbled, deciding it was a little past time that he took real control of their exchange. “How are things over there, anyway?”

____

“ _No, not telling you!_ ” the dark-haired man blinked at the cheery reply, surprised again when Shiro’s tone suddenly turned truly serious. “ _Vacation. Enjoy it._ ”

____

He was left sitting in silence except for the light beeping of the line having been cut off, real evidence that his friend had hung up on him. In retrospect, the older man could be a real imp when he wanted to be, his situation the case and point. Leaving now meant he wasted hour packing up early just to go home early and maybe get kicked out of his own shop once Shiro spotted him. He had plenty of reason to suspect there was something else going on, even if a kind person like Shiro didn’t really have a mean bone in his body.

____

Still, Hunk did not enjoy getting hung up on, able to set his phone down on the table in case he crushed it. “Ass.”

____

\----

____

Late the next day, practically after lunch, all thoughts of the merman had completely skipped his mind when he’d gone to be on the porch with a cooking magazine he’d brought. He’d in fact brought several of the same label, just a slight backlog of editions he’d been wanting to read for a while. It was a small wonder he didn’t somehow tear the glossy paper in jagged halves when a voice literally spoke from out of the blue.

____

“Garrett, right?”

____

“Oh fu--.” the fact Hunk was already in a lounge chair was the reason he didn’t end up going in some mad direction to the wooden deck under him, flustered and almost throwing his magazine away. It didn’t take him long to find the source, an almost milky white visage with dark eyes watching calmly from just a few feet away in front of him and the planks of the porch’s banister. “What the hell?!”

____

“Oops.” the pale face stated, not looking or sounding very remorseful for almost making the lounging human soil his pants.

____

_When the hell did he get there?!_ Hunk was sure he’d have heard or seen the man get so close, but he must’ve been so focused on his magazine to miss both clues entirely. This didn’t stop him from regarding the smooth face peeking from between the planks of wood like it belonged to a mischievous child. “Are you trying to scare me into the next world?!”

____

"No."

____

Dissatisfied with the blunt answer, the stocky man did his best to settle back into the chair, regarding the stranger with open caution. “Who are you?”

____

“I’m Keith.” the merman replied just as simply, visage tilting just a fraction to give away some faint hint of curiosity. “And you’re… Hunk?”

____

“It’s what my parents call me, yeah.” he managed to say, kicking himself for such a lame response. “Am I… intruding?”

____

“No. It’s weird, though.”

____

“Yeah, weird.” Hunk agreed dully, no more amused than he had been the day before about the whole thing. “Very.”

____

Either due to a powerful sense of apathy or failing to get the hint, Keith merely stared back as if they were talking through a chain-link fence at a playground. “Only Shiro’s come before. I didn’t try anything because he told me you’d be here.”

____

“And how did he do that? CB radio?”

____

The question had been almost pure sarcasm, but true to his blunt affect, the merman didn’t miss a beat. “No, a cell. The coverage is pretty good when the weather’s clear.”

____

“How do you know Shiro, exactly?”

____

“He’s my brother.”

____

For the first time in a while, Hunk was frozen. “Uh, what?”

____

“Not literally. My twin sister likes California. She doesn’t see Cape Cod like I do.” Keith told him informatively, almost as if the connection was obvious.

____

_Did he expect me to know that already?_ The baker shook off his confusion long enough to speak, even if a dozen questions began to fill his mind. “Sure… because that makes perfect sense.” he deadpanned, unsure what to do with with that information. So he chose to try a different angle. “Does that mean others know that you’re… around, I guess?”

____

“Yeah. There aren’t many others like me around and I don’t go far out during fishing season. Fewer chances at getting stuck with a harpoon that way.”

____

Hunk stared, thrown by the blase reference to being gored by a fishing tool. “Do you hear yourself when you talk?”

____

“Do you really make the best tarts on this side of reality?” Keith shot back, again not seeming to have much in the way of hesitation.

____

“Why would you--oh, wait.” Hunk stopped himself from questioning the phrase too much, as it was close enough to the proper saying for him to get the gist. This did little to keep him from offering a fresh glower at his hidden visitor. “For future notice, your brother’s due to be throttled when I go back to the city.”

____

“I figured that.” the merman stated with the beginnings of annoyance in his tone. “You looked surprised, it’s why I left.”

____

“That would be an understatement.” the human mumbled aloud, finally realizing he could see a shoulder as well as the merman’s face from where he sat, the color not looking like skin. “You’re wearing clothes.”

____

“You thought I wouldn’t?”

____

“No! I just--.” Hunk truly hoped that his face wasn’t burning at his fumble. “No offense, but I expected to enjoy my vacation alone. That did not include surprise visitors in the form of a shape-shifting merman. Who is thankfully wearing pants even if I can’t see them.”

____

To his relief, this didn’t bother Keith, even if everything else didn’t seem to trouble him in the slightest. “Shiro helped me understand humans like that. Something about modesty.”

____

“Yeah, we don’t have fur or can swim into warmer water like you. Ancient humanoids were covered in hair but we evolved away from that? No one knows why.”

____

“He said that too. How it had to do with monkeys.”

____

“More like apes but yeah, roughly the same thing.” Hunk agreed, as he wasn’t about to get into a long conversation on the possible evolution of humanity. Least of all with a cryptid whose origins were even more muddled than a number of other Earth animals. “You’re not going to stand there all day, are you?”

____

“You seem fine with it.”

____

“Won’t your legs get tired?”

____

The pale face with its dark eyes and strands of black falling in almost wild locks stared for a brief second. Not two seconds later, he made a declaration. “I’m coming up.”

____

It was such a shock that Hunk almost couldn’t muster any kind of protest in time to stop him, not when the face turned and began to move to his right. Where the stairs leading up to the porch were, each step quiet and proof on why he hadn’t in fact heard the merman get so close before then. He wasn’t wearing any shoes. It made sense, especially if the cryptid didn’t like them enough to wear them constantly like Lance could.

____

Seeing Keith in proper view was all manner of interesting: he was pale from head to foot with his skin not looking quite like skin thanks to the dull glimmer of scales as he moved. Either he’d just gotten out of the water or the air was moist enough to make his cryptid heritage more obvious. His hair was still dark as a raven’s wing, an almost silky cascade of ebony held back mostly by what looked like elastic string, exposing some of his neck to Hunk’s view. His frame was thin but looked strong, his muscles leaving him appearing like a runner while his clothes made it look like he too was on vacation. There was nothing weird or suggestive about Keith’s attire, but seeing how the man’s dark shorts cut off a few inches away from the knee and his v-neck shirt of equally dark color gave a teasing glance at his collarbone?

____

Hunk had to force his eyes away in case the violet orbs he’d finally seen up close gave him an odd look once the merman was casually stretched out in the spare deck chair. Hell, even his feet looked oddly delicate for a man, indeed without shoes and having no sign of wear. Though he’d invited the man to be closer to hopefully talk like normal people, the baker found himself in a mental struggle on what to do to avoid being rude.

____

It was a mixed blessing for Keith to break the silence for him, head cocked a bit to the side as he considered the only other person for miles. “Is something wrong?”

____

“No, I uh--.” the stocky baker tried to avoid all the things he might blurt out and offend his visitor somehow, trying very hard not to stare at any one thing about this new person in his space. “You’re not what I expected?”

____

Aside from looking absolutely deadpan, he could almost swear the merman’s lips were twitching into a frown. “What do you mean?”

____

“Quiet, for one.” Hunk managed to find was safest to broach first, not about to allow anxious babbling get this strange man to leave right after showing up. “I only know one other merman and he talks like he’s on a sugar high.”

____

“Lance?”

____

The use of his other employee’s name took him by surprise, making Hunk stare again. “You know him?”

____

“Of him. I think if we met, I’d kill him.”

____

“Uh… please don’t? He’s my cashier and unofficial salesman.”

____

“Not really. I’m… not good with sarcasm.” the merman told him, hesitation making his voice sound odd. Or a little more unusual than before, being so deep and raspy.

____

_It makes sense, since he’s not very social and probably doesn’t talk very often. Living out here must mean there’s really no one around to even talk to._ This brought a new thought to Hunk’s mind, unsure if he even wants a clear answer at this point. “How often do you see people, of any kind, exactly?”

____

“Every couple of weeks, unless I go into a town for stuff. Then it’s all the time. I just… don’t interact unless I have to.”

____

“You didn’t come up here because you had to.”

____

Keith’s head bobbed slowly, a way of conceding the stocky human’s point. “I wanted what I do after this to make sense. So you don’t freak out. Shiro usually tells someone when he comes by with strangers.”

____

“Do you know why he didn’t tell me about you?”

____

It was curious, seeing Keith’s first real emotion twist his face, annoyance to a ‘t’. “He has a weird sense of humor. I don’t understand it either.”

____

“Great.” Hunk drawled back, the best way he could think of showing his own disdain toward the possibly one thing they had in common: Shiro’s impish meddling. Now it was up to him to somehow break the ice between them else one of them got too nervous. Himself in particular. “Without being cliche, do you like music?”

____

“Sure. Hold on.”

____

He wasn’t sure why he was surprised, but seeing Keith reach a thin hand into a pocket of his shorts to pull out the familiar black and rectangular shape of a phone caught Hunk off guard. “Whoa, you seriously have a phone?”

____

“The wonders of plastic.” the merman replied casually, the screen already lit up and his fingers poking at it to find the right function. “They haven’t made one that’s truly waterproof so I don’t chance it. I don’t go far where the pressure’s too strong, in case that ruins it too.”

____

Another thing that made more sense, even when so calmly stated. He’d not left waiting long to know what Keith might choose when the steady thump of a bass began to fill the air from the phone’s speakers. It almost sounded like something Pidge had blaring only at a much lower volume. Unable to help it, Hunk found himself laughing a little. “Techno? Seriously?”

____

“You asked me if I like music. This is the kind that works for me.” Keith said as he set the device down on the thick arm of his chair, not minding that they were talking over the track. “It’s like a heartbeat only it’s going at the pace it wants.”

____

“I think I see what you mean.” the baker agreed, once the song’s tempo really started to move, not sounding that bad. “I was almost expecting rock or even classical.”

____

“Those are on different playlists. This is just my mood right now.”

____

“Ah.” Hunk managed to say with enough intelligence to avoid making a fool of himself. He wasn’t much for pop music or even what was being played at clubs, but he could dig a good beat same as anyone. “I like it.”

____

This seemed to satisfy the pale merman, nodding slowly. “Good.”

____

A half minute passed and Hunk found he was growing anxious again, his thin magazine suddenly feeling inadequate. “No books or…?”

____

“Only at my house. And I’ve got a few loaded up on here. Are you worried I’ll get bored?”

____

So he does live in a house like a human does, the baker finds this a relief, not about to get worked up over this strange man living in a cave no one could find. It wasn’t as if he didn’t trust a man he’d just met to take stupid risks when no one was looking, but the fact Keith probably lived alone was still a little hard to ignore. “We’re technically hanging out together so, yes?”

____

Keith’s head tilted again, pondering his choices. “Changing the app could stop the music or just drain the battery. I know what’s on the shelves here. Did you see a title you liked?”

____

“You know, I haven’t looked yet. I mean, you don’t have to and I’m not gonna stop you so, surprise me.”

____

“I did that already.”

____

“Yes, yes you did.” Hunk said dryly, but didn’t bother offering anything better. What could he say to make things any less strange than they were?

____

Keith nodded once more, moving with an odd grace to get out of his chair and head for the back doors, slipping inside without any concern of what Hunk might do or the fact he’d left his phone behind. Such confidence was a little astounding, and almost had him believing that either the merman wasn’t threatened by him or was more unsuspecting of a human’s darker side than Shiro had said. Either way, he didn’t try to get up to follow or pick up the phone that sat a little outside his reach. Curious as he was, he wasn’t about to push his luck more than necessary.

____

True to his intentions, the merman was soon back with a pair of hardcover books in his grip, offering them both to Hunk without a word. He didn’t recognize either title but took enough interest in what looked like a suspense novel to claim it, allowing his visitor to keep hold of the other one. Its cover showed that it was also a suspense book, but by a different author, and one Keith had probably read before if he settled on a page near the middle.

____

Doing his best to remain calm and flip his own tome to the first page, Hunk despised his weakness in talking over the still thumping beat of the techno song. “So you’re just… fine with this?” he asked, baffled on why the other man was so relaxed around him. “Hanging out with a complete stranger?”

____

Not looking away from the pale pages, Keith had settled into a truly laid-back position, as if he were sunning himself almost. “You’re not a stranger. You’re Hunk and you work with my brother. I’ve only seen photos of you and we just met. We can talk tomorrow.”

____

“Tomorrow?”

____

“The tide’s low so I’m stuck here. I’ll be heading out around four.”

____

“Oh. Right.” he managed to say with a great level of intelligence, absolutely thrown once again by how calm the merman was about the whole thing. Having never met anyone so tranquil and confident before, Hunk almost didn’t know what to say anymore.

____

So he didn’t, turning away at last to focus on the book in his hands, willing himself not to get antsier than ever about the unusual situation he was in. Said book seemed to be the first in a series, which was good since Hunk wasn’t about to get up and seek it out, somehow make things even weirder. Knowing himself and his nerves, he was probably over-thinking again.

____

Somehow, at some point, the dark-haired human found he wasn’t all that nervous anymore as the steady beat of the low-playing music echoed over them. Though not usually his taste, the book in his hands was pretty good and the baker got to roughly in the middle of chapter four when the shape of Keith finally moved. Blinking as he brought his head up, seeing the man was already half out of the chair with his phone in hand just in time to shut the music off. “I’m heading out. You should go inside and get your dinner started soon.”

____

“Did you want to stay and eat?”

____

The merman only put his book on the chair’s arm, and stuff the phone back into his pocket while standing up straight. “You probably only bought food for one. I’m not about to cut into that.” he stated, offering a slight nod just prior to taking a step to walk away. “Bye.”

____

“Uh, yeah, later.” Hunk said rather lamely, once again unsure of how to sound casual.

____

Keith didn’t look back or offer so much as an agreement, or disagreement to the comment, pale feet quiet as ever on the sand once he was at the staircase bottom. Walking away and back toward the rocks, it wasn’t hard to believe that looking at him now, Hunk would’ve mistaken him for someone just going for a stroll. The raven didn’t look back to see if Hunk was watching or seemed to care if he was or not, even when the baker tried not to think about how the man’s routine might unfold once at the rocks. Calling to ask Lance if merpeople could transform their clothes along with their bodies felt a little stupid, and Keith had said he knew about plastic.

____

Grabbing up the neatly placed book, Hunk marched into the house to return them to the living room where the bookshelf was. Part of him was annoyed that he hadn’t stayed home or found a place in the mountains. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel oddly concerned for the merman who would vanish any minute now that his back was turned. Wanting a simple meal, he decided to whip up some steaks and fried potatoes to be matched with a beer. He hadn’t done much but Keith’s visit had unnerved him a bit, so though not his usual fair, Hunk really did want to use his cooking to find his happy place again.

____

Unable to help wanting more answers, he’d gotten the potatoes in the skillet and close to hissing when he got Shiro on the phone. He almost dropped the device once he was done relating his story, and got a shocked noise as his answer. “ _Oh my god. I was afraid of this._ ”

____

Hunk froze up without meaning to, almost believing he’d in fact done something wrong and hadn’t known it. “What? Afraid of what?!”

____

“ _He likes you._ ”

____

“What? I literally just met him! How is that enough exposure to like me?”

____

“ _Keith can be hard to figure out but when he decides something, it’s usually with enough evidence to justify whatever it is he feels is the right choice._ ” Shiro was telling him with a muted chuckle, damn him. “ _I’ve probably told him enough about you for him to decide being so close is a good idea. His social skills need work but when he tries, he really does try._ ”

____

“You did all of this on purpose.”

____

“ _Porpoise? There shouldn’t be any out there. It’s not the right time and the water’s too strong in places. Way too far north too. Too cold._ ”

____

“Takashi Shirogane.” Hunk growled in a rare show of true annoyance, something he knew would truly get his friend to behave long enough to give him a straight answer. “Did you send me here to become friends with your brother or whoever he is to you?”

____

A total of five seconds passed before his friend said anything, actually needing the time to find the right words for once. “ _Hunk, I…._ ” he began, stopped himself with a sigh before trying again. “ _I’m only trying to do what’s best for both of you guys. You need to get out more and he needs someone other than me to interact with._ ”

____

“So you set us both up? What the hell, man?!”

____

For the first time in a while, Shiro let out a dry scoff. “ _Trust me, I’ve been trying to gently nudge him in the direction of people his age for years. You two seemed like a decent fit and I took a chance when you said that you were finally going to take a few weeks off._ ” he paused for three seconds, more confident. “ _I’m guessing he said that he’d come back tomorrow?_ ”

____

Hunk frowned at the quick guess, remembering to use his spatula so that his potatoes didn’t burn, ignoring how they hissed in the oil. “Yeah, he did. Why?”

____

In his ear, his fried gave a knowledgeable hum. “ _That’s how he operates. The first time was random but today was obviously to see how you’d adjusted to knowing about him at all._ ” to an effect, Hunk had to admit this made sense. Literally test the waters and see if the strange person he’d only heard about was truly who they were said to be. “ _Tomorrow’s gonna be something of a minefield so choose what you ask or say carefully._ ”

____

“Or what? He’ll bolt again?”

____

“ _Maybe to head somewhere else and wait until you’re gone before coming back._ ” Shiro confirmed without pause, as if a person vanishing for seemingly no reason was perfectly normal. And in this case, it probably was. “ _He will do that for days or the rest of your time there so not seeing him again isn’t that bizarre._ ”

____

The baker fought down a terribly heavy sigh, wanting to cross the distance to physically strangle his friend for the whole thing. “This was supposed to be my vacation, not a social skills lesson for your cryptid sibling.” he managed not to sneer in his irritation, his own statement a reminder of a new question that was fallen to the wayside. “How is he your brother, exactly?”

____

“ _Little brother, and unofficially adopted at this point. Would you believe that he’d been swept toward Japan during a storm?_ ”

____

“That doesn’t sound too unlikely. And he just let you take care of him?”

____

“ _There was a ton of hissing, spitting, scratching, the works. But he was so little and I wasn’t about to just walk off, leave him there. Made lots of calls to health centers for what to do once I got him in the bathtub._ ” Just hearing it was a little hard to believe, and yet it wasn’t. Shiro seemed to have a giving heart at every age, so knowing this sound rather typical of the man.

____

“You say that like he was a piranha. Or a toddler.” Hunk frowned at the skillet of hissing food with mild confusion as the odd phrase came together. “Piranha toddler?”

____

Shiro’s snicker was far less irritating at this point at the odd phrase, even if it didn’t sound quite right. On his end, the older man didn’t seem to disagree. “ _This was years ago so yeah, he was pretty small back then. Not to mention his species can be kinda vicious when threatened or scared. As I’m sure you saw, he’s kinda huge now._ ”

____

_If being almost six feet and one-eighty soaking wet is ‘huge’ in some fashion._ The baker thought wryly, keeping the comment to himself. “How long ago was this?”

____

“ _Eight years, plenty of time to actually look like he’s at least twenty. I think the real number’s closer to twenty-five, but that’s only because he won’t tell me what it is._ ”

____

“You didn’t give him over to a rehabber or something?”

____

For a second time, Shiro’s scoff echoed through the phone line, but this time with a distinct lack of good humor. “ _We both know that merpeople aren’t animals, even if they can act like them. The most they tried to do was send a doctor who needed me in the room just to keep her face._ ” this, again, wasn’t that great of a surprise. Since Keith was probably in a strange place, surrounded by potentially dangerous people and didn’t have the advantage of age and size at the time, he was probably a little demon. Which was odd given how docile he’d seemed when coming near Hunk at all. “ _He didn’t know Japanese and barely any English so that made things very difficult. Thank the stars for translation apps, right?_ ”

____

Hunk almost dropped his spatula at hearing this, bewildered that this was the first he’d even heard of such a thing. “There’s a merpeople language app?!”

____

“ _Oh yeah, you’ve never needed it because Keith and Lance can speak just fine. At least human languages, in this case._ ” Shiro mused helpfully, only making the dark-haired baker scowl at his now deep brown potato slices, a sign they were almost ready. “ _I doubt you need it anyway, unless there’s a word he somehow doesn’t know and needs help figuring out how to say it. As I was saying, Keith really didn’t like being picked up or poked, but he did like the sashimi my mom gave him._ ”

____

“Was that even a good idea?”

____

“ _It was fish and something he could honestly eat without getting sick at the time. It’s why he might be interested in your tarts, actually._ ”

____

“Yeah, about that. Why did he say ‘the best on this side of reality’?”

____

This time, Shiro’s laugh almost sounded nervous. “ _Ah, well… his concept of things is a little limited but I think he meant existence? As in outside of heaven? I don’t know. He kept giving us weird looks when we tried to explain Christianity to him._ ”

____

Hunk frowned at hearing this, but in a way it made sense. Why believe in a god or pantheon of them when one’s biggest worries were getting food, having kids and not being eaten yourself? “Lance never said anything, so merpeople honestly don’t have religion?”

____

“ _They probably never needed it, seeing as how they always had bigger concerns. If only we lowly humans had followed their example, right?_ ”

____

“I want to eat so I’m not even going to go near that.” he mumbled, no longer very keen on talking for much longer. He’d mostly gotten the answers he’d wanted, and one could almost bet that Shiro was bound to clam up soon anyway. “Now please tell me this guy didn’t somehow get through the Great Canal just to live on the same coast your beach house.”

____

Some of the earlier mirth came back into his friend’s voice at the wry question, hardly bothered by it. “ _No, he took a plane ride with me. He’d murder me if he knew I was saying this, but he did take advantage of a service dog for the trip. All three legs._ ”

____

“He took three planes for the first time ever, with a bunch of dogs.” Hunk mused aloud, trying the statement on his tongue, frowning again. “I can’t picture that.”

____

Technically this was a lie, but Hunk didn’t know enough about Keith to have a proper vision of what this could’ve looked like, though Shiro seemed to been prepared for this. “ _Then it’s a good thing I took plenty of photos even when he tried to stop me.” he replied, sounding far too proud of himself about it. “I’ll send them over tonight, then you’ll believe me._ ”

____

This time, Hunk honestly could laugh, because at least then it would somehow portray Keith as something of a normal person. “I can only imagine the paperwork involved. I’ve never questioned how Lance got here, either.”

____

“ _They’re the same as anyone, they need records and passports. Registering them in the first place is hard because they’re so transient year-round. I think they have to take an IQ test, like taking a citizen’s exam for their official IDs. His family likes the Alaskan/Hawaiian route so he was technically already an American. I think the confirmation took weeks, and a scale sample._ ”

____

“They took a scale?”

____

“ _For DNA, like blood. He refused being poked with a needle like he was about to be shot with a gun._ ” Shiro chuckled, the sound good-natured and without spite. Apparently Keith had a pretty common fear, same as anyone else. “ _Merpeople who want to be known for frequenting certain areas usually give them up as adults or carefully off their young after they’re born and need to shed them. They sometimes even offer bones of past generations no one could find to prove it._ ”

____

“That isn’t complicated in the slightest.” Hunk drawled back, as this was not where he saw their conversation would be going a minute ago.

____

“ _It’s all very new, in the past fifty years._ ” his fried told him informatively, almost saying it as if it was truly common knowledge. “ _Accepting they were intelligent enough to learn all kinds of things other than mimicking human behavior and speech was just the first step. A big one, if someone like Lance is so confident. Getting them to register their numbers and family members has been a steady trickle since then._ ”

____

“Does he even have a job? Pay taxes or have an actual house? I saw he had a phone when he came by. Even said ‘my house’ instead of ‘cave’.”

____

“ _Yeah, I think he watches the fish species out there. Better than most other methods of trying to catch and measure as many as possible for a few weeks. Makes sure the numbers are healthy and the fish are big enough to be caught._ ” Hunk nodded to himself upon hearing this, as it more or less matched up with the raven’s own statements, as blunt as they’d been. For Shiro to confirm it at least said the man knew where his pseudo-sibling was and why. “ _Other than that, I’m sure he’s found a way to get enough cash to pay the bills for that cottage of his. Won’t take a dime from me anymore._ ”

____

“So long as he’s not homeless and struggling, I guess.” the baker chose to acquiesce, not about to question the term ‘cottage’ or its placement further down the coast from him. If he idled any longer, his food was going to burn. “My food’s pretty much ready so I’m letting you off the hook, for now.”

____

“ _Sure thing, boss. Have a nice dinner._ ” Shiro called with a bit too much cheer, making it Hunk’s turn to scoff.

____

“Bye.”

____

Setting the phone aside to take up the spatula, Hunk got a healthy serving of the potatoes out and onto his awaiting plate. The skillet was put on a cold burner while he shut the oven off and moved to step outside. Using the grill had proven easy since it was a gas-powered one with a full tank. He’d been unwilling to cook just one after opening the package, since he could always whip up a few sides later on.

____

They were brown with hints of black char, smelling perfect by now after spending the past half hour over the flame. At the same time, Hunk found his gaze straying to his left and out into the darkened bay just past the porch banister. The sky was still overcast and dulled any glow of the moon considerably, making it hard to make out the quiet waves sloshing just yards away. A part of him couldn’t help but wonder if wherever Keith was hanging his… clothes, so to speak, the merman was adapted enough to not go hungry every day. He knew merpeople had to eat several pounds of fish almost daily, and Keith didn’t seem like the type to swim in a pod or school in order to get that much.

____

Merpeople who lived out in the true and unknown depths probably didn’t have much to worry about except fishing nets and the commercial fishing practices behind such things. But Keith had said himself that he didn’t go out unless it wasn’t fishing season, to avoid being caught or hurt. Why he’d said so to Hunk was difficult to figure out, but probably to keep him from getting concerned.

____

_But I’m worried anyway. Why is that? I barely know the guy!_ Hunk berated himself, sighing as he looked away to use the fork he’d brought so to stab each piece of meat for its transfer to the platter he’d also grabbed on his way out. He’d never worried this much about Lance or what the man’s family was like down in Cuba. The guy was always so chatty and full of joy that it was hard to imagine him being worried sick about any family sharing the same waters as fishing boats.

____

Not about to give himself an ulcer or something thinking about it, the baker shut the grill off once the last steak was on the stack of its fellows. Assured the flame was out and he could eat now, Hunk stepped past the glass door and shut it behind him. It almost felt like a foolish thing, locking it behind him but knowing he wasn’t truly alone made him do it anyway. While not threatened by Keith, he wasn’t sure how to feel about a man who could come and go easier than most in a pinch. Shiro’s brother or not, it was going to take more than a short conversation and quiet afternoon of reading to make him comfortable.

____

Hunk found himself staring out toward the waves again through the bedroom window later that evening, frowning deeper at the lack of much to see. Keith had said that the tide had kept him from leaving earlier, and it was unlikely he was still out there, watching the house. Kicking himself for even thinking the raven might still be in the water, circling and watching, Hunk turned away again to slip into bed. If Keith came back like he promised, he’d deal with it then. For now, there was no point in getting hung up over a stranger.

____

\----

____

End?

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End file.
